A Good Old Catch 22 for Discussion

GoingNowhere

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#1
Open for discussion:

My friends essentially had a mini-intervention on me when they discovered how little water I drink. All right, so maybe not actually an intervention, but they did freak out a little and act as if they'd never heard of something so abnormal in their lives.:yikes:


I regularly go for a few days without drinking more than a few sips of liquid. I eat a lot of fruit, raw vegetables, and other moisture rich foods, which is probably what has kept me alive for 21 years... but I just don't get the compulsion to drink water regularly. When I hike, when I run, when I'm on my feet outside in the summer - sure, I get thirsty like any other person. But just day to day, not so much. Trying to chug down water when I'm not thirsty is an absolute pain and makes my stomach hurt (probably a placebo effect from my mental irritation, but still).

But alas, after my "intervention" I decided that I should at least try to change my ways. I'm pretty chronically tired in the evenings even after sleeping for 8-10 hours nights in a row... I have low blood pressure. I get dizzy sometimes and have orthostatic hypotension when I stand up occasionally. And to go into the TMI, let's just say my pee doesn't look like sprite. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to conclude that I'm probably chronically dehydrated.

Now the catch 22. I don't like water really, but I need to drink something as was made evidently apparent two days ago. Yet I really don't want to substitute water intake for something unhealthy. I like fruity drinks, but don't like the exorbitant amount of sugar per serving, especially since I already eat a ton of fruit. Yet "sugar free" drinks and drink additives freak me out. No way in hell will I drink soda more than a sip if it's offered at a party. Milk is yummy occasionally, but it can't be my staple fluid. I like decaf tea, but not enough to want to drink more than a cup of it a day.

I bought myself some crystal light liquid additive to add to water and it is very yummy, but alas, it's a sugarless sweetener which really isn't my ideal. I know I *should* just suck it up and drink 8 glasses of water a day. But I've known that I *should* be doing this for years and yet I probably average out to .5-1 cups per day. Yesterday I actually drank like 5 cups of the sweetened water (yay!) but HOLY CRAP how are you supposed to function - I felt like I water faucet - I had to pee like every 30 minutes. :yikes:

What to do, what to do?
 

Oko

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#2
I would just get a big 32oz water bottle and keep it with you at all times. I've found that when you get into a groove of drinking a ton of water, you want to drink it so much more. But the first couple days are kind of like...omg I pee so much. :rofl1:
 

Xandra

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#3
I would just get a big 32oz water bottle and keep it with you at all times. I've found that when you get into a groove of drinking a ton of water, you want to drink it so much more. But the first couple days are kind of like...omg I pee so much. :rofl1:
I try to always have a glass of water going (filtered, to decrease the chlorine-ee taste). If I just tell myself "DRINK THIS WATER" it will never work lol. But I tend to do repetitive things, like nibbling on snacks or wiggling my foot or whatever. I just redirect this.

Sip.

Hmm let's watch this.

A zebra!

Sip.

A lion!

Sip sip.

Turn up the volume.

Sip sip.

The tension!!

Sip sip.

And before you know it, the water's gone! and then you go get another glass. I went through a period were a big glass of cold water was just gross, I found cool-room temperature more palatable for a while.


As far as a non-water healthy drink, I think coconut water is supposed to be pretty healthy, and it's natural. Tastes like pee to me, but my mom and supposedly many others like it.
 
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#4
I cut lemons in half and freeze them, then I grate them on a cheese grater and dump the shredded rinds and everything in the water. I love lemon drink, no sugar. Kind of a pain, but not terrible. Better than diabetes from all that sugar in the other ****.
 

stardogs

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#5
I suck at drinking plain water, too.

What I've found helps:

- keep a water bottle in the car - just having it in arms reach means I drink more just for something to do, especially on long drives.
- Use a bottle with a carbon filter - I hate the taste of some tap waters, but the carbon filter makes it taste like spring water, which is more palatable.
- Mint water! I just found several mint waters at Whole Foods and they are awesome - no sweeteners of any sort, but the mint essence really makes them more appealing than plain water. There are a few similarly sweetner-free flavored waters, but they still taste odd to me.
 

Beanie

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#6
You can use all kinds of natural things to flavour your water!

http://smarterfitter.com/2008/06/09/32-natural-ways-to-flavor-water/


Personally I like Camelbaks. I had heard that people drink more with a Camelbak so I bought one for the gym and two for home, and I definitely notice that I drink more water with them. I can't tell you why but it does happen. I use the 1L bottles at home and the small .5L at the gym. I easily drink 3L just in the evenings alone.
http://www.pepperdine.edu/pr/stories/2010/may/holden-macrae-operation-hydration.htm
 

OwnedByBCs

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#7
You may also want to try a filter water bottle, like the Bobble or I think Brita makes them. I pretty much don't drink any non-filtered water anymore, I just don't like the taste. My bobble is my BFF. It makes water enjoyable, take it from someone who also hates just plain water. I also drink a LOT of Arizona Diet Green Tea and Snapple Tea.

I would just get into the habit of it.
 

joce

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#8
It's always been hard for me. I have to make myself drink it if just at work or sitting around. I also don't drink with a meal. Drink when im done. This drives my husband nuts but I can't drink and eat. I'm odd.
 

meepitsmeagan

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#9
I used to have an uber hard time with drinking water. I tried to force myself to drink more by carrying around a refillable water bottle thing, but found I didn't use it much.

Strangely, what helped with me was having a case of water in plastic water bottles by the door, and every day when I left for work, I would grab one. Now that 16 oz water bottle for 8 hours has gone up to THREE! I normally drink 2-3 per day now, sometimes even more. It has been super helpful.. I love Nestle Ice Mountain. It just tastes delish. I hate tap water, unless it is coming straight out of the hose. The cases are only about $3 for a 24 case, with each water bottle being 16 oz.
 

Saeleofu

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#10
Tea! Drink ALL THE TEA! It's very healthy, and you can get tons of different kinds that don't even have caffeine. I just tried yerba mate for the first time today, and it was sooooo good. Light, earthy, and surprisingly refreshing (even warm!). There are fruit teas, spice teas, black, green, and white teas, red teas...there's really no limit.

Also, let it be known that the stuff you find in the grocery store is NOT REALLY TEA. It's "tea" as in from the tea tree, but...you can't even compare it to high-quality tea. That said, I was perfectly okay with drinking grocery store tea until I tried high quality tea, so if you've never had tea before or already like the grocery store stuff, you might want to stick to it. Only thing is a lot of the flavored grocery store teas have a ton of artificial stuff in them.

I don't even put anything in my tea aside from milk in *some* hot teas (pretty much anything black gets milk so long as it's not fruity like an earl grey or something). No sugar needed with a good tea, it's got tons of flavor.

I got an electric kettle and a tea pot with a built in strainer and plunger, and it's SO SIMPLE. I can easily down a full liter of tea in a sitting, and if I had the time I could make pot after pot, a different one each time. I have, at times, had a couple gallons of tea in one day, and I can down iced tea especially quickly.

That said, I'm a big water drinker anyway, I usually drink over a gallon a day (I go through a quart just overnight). I always have a water bottle with me, and I don't like not having one. But I have known other people that just don't drink water and subsisted on tea as their only liquid. It doesn't add any sugar (or worse, artificial sweetener), and is just good stuff.
 

GoingNowhere

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#11
good recommendations everyone! I might try some frozen fruit ice cubes! :) We shall see.

You know what the funny thing is? It's not even that I don't "like" water in the sense that I dislike the way it tastes. Rather, I just don't feel compelled to drink it. I suppose this is a plus, because it means that just sipping water doesn't feel like torture - bottled, tap, filtered, they all taste like nothing to me... but if I have a glass in front of me and try to drink a bunch at once it feels like I'm force feeding myself liquid nothingness... and then I feel all sloshy inside.

carrying a bottle with me is a good idea as well - if I can sip it in little bits, maybe it won't be so hard to drink a normal amount. I just need to remember not to leave the bottle in the car when I park to go into class!
 
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#12
There isn't anything magical about water from a cup instead of water from a berry. You probably don't need to drink 8 glasses a day, another 2-4 could be plenty if it stops your negative symptoms.
 
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#13
I do not like plain water, I can hardly drink it. Something about the combination of the texture and the "flavor" if you can call it I just find icky.

I do like carbonated, unsweetened water like H2O! or other brands. Or if I'm really hard up I add a few squirts of lemon juice to water or drink iced tea instead.
 

Southpaw

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#14
I don't drink water. At all. Unless I like, take a long walk on a hot day. Then I'll grab a bottle BUT I have to add a Crystal Light packet to it. Would rather die of thirst than drink plain water lol.

Or I'll do these guys from Target:
http://www.target.com/p/market-pant...sparkling-water-beverage-1-liter/-/A-13054414

I'm a big fan of drinking pop, so the carbonated flavored waters end up being just as satisfying to me.
 

Laurelin

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#16
I've been trying to switch from cokes to water and I definitely need an interim drink with flavor. I drink tea a lot. I also drink a lot of lemon and/or orange/citrus water. It's easy to make. I will also use frozen fruit for ice cubes sometimes. My favorite is frozen raspberries. Mint and cucumber water is another. I'm not a big fan of the cucumber but I like the mint.

I do drink the crystal lights sometimes but they're kind of icky. My big downfall is lipton raspberry tea.
 

~Jessie~

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#19
Seltzer! I'm not a water drinker and I have to really try every day to get enough liquids. La Croix is amazing- bubbly and flavored with no calories or sweeteners.
 

frostfell

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#20
the peeing every 5 minutes isnt normal, and once you ARE hydrated properly, it will stop. i hate water as well, but i adore coffee so i drink a lot of tea and coffee, and then this stuff http://www.theyummylife.com/Flavored_Water

when they say 8 glasses of water, they mean 8 ounce glasses. the little ones. so it actually amounts to, if youre using a big glass or water bottle, 3 or 4. doesnt seem so hard to drink 3 soda-bottles-worth of water a day, yes? even 2 would be better than where you are at, now

also get a brita.
 

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